Sir Terry Pratchett to collaborate with Stephen Baxter
15th June 2010
A project started by Sir Terry Pratchett more than 20 years ago is to come to fruition thanks to a new collaboration with a science fiction writer.
The Discworld author will work with Stephen Baxter, whose books include Ark and Flood, to develop his vision of a chain of parallel worlds known as The Long Earth.
Explaining the concept, publisher Doubleday commented: 'Our Earth is but one of a chain of parallel worlds, each differing from its neighbours by a little (or a lot) in an infinite landscape of infinite possibilities. And you can just step from one world to the next.'
Sir Terry first started working on the idea in 1986, shortly after writing the third Discworld novel, Equal Rites, and drafted an unfinished novel and two short stories.
The writer and Baxter will now complete the project through two as-yet-untitled novels, with the first Long Earth book to be published by Doubleday in spring 2012.
Although he has published more than 40 books and over 100 short stories, Baxter's background is as a maths and physics teacher and a chartered engineer. Highlighting his credentials as a science fiction writer, he mentioned that he applied to be a cosmonaut on the Mir space station in 1991.